Our bags are packed!

Tomorrow we're off - and won't be back for close to three weeks. :)

We're off to the States, two weeks in California/Los Angeles/San Fransisco/Las Vegas and there abouts, and a week in Minnesota/Bemidji/Black Duck/Tenstrike. We'll be flying over Iceland, with a short stop in Reykjavik. Of course, quilt shops are on my list of things I want to do, but there will be more - oh yes, lots more.. The batteries for the cameras are charged, and notebooks prepared.

See you all when we return! And have a nice summer/vacation/sewing time!

Happy 4th! and a little work done.

Each year, on the Sunday closest to the 4th of July, the ACCN (..I think..) arranges a gathering for all Norwegian-Americans in Frognerparken in Oslo. Last year I went with my BF's family, but since half of them already are in the States, and the other half is working hard and preparing for vacation, I went up there with my sister. The weather looked very unstable, but it was HOT! and actually very nice.


After a couple of hours, my sister had been introduced to both Sloppy Joe's and Rice Crispy Squares - and we decided to go home. But it was fun! :)
I found a pattern in one of my books - Lapper til hygge og nytte, by Grete Gulliksen Moe - for a triangle bag, and I knew I had to try it.


It was really simple and fun - and I cheated a little.. oops.. but for a first try, I think it came out well. :)

Also, I've made a small stitchery picture (stitchery-in-a-wooden-frame) from a pattern by Tilda. A bit too "pink" for my taste, but kinda cute too. :) Right now it hangs on a small space between out hall and the livingroom, waiting to know it's destiny - a keeper or a gift... hmm..


I prepared the Bareroots stitchery Folk Art Patches (the small stitchery, not the big quilt or the pillow) tonight - I needed something to do because I don't feel tired and don't want to sleep yet - but when I had cut the background, drawn the pattern and made the border, I found that the scraps of batting that I had left, would be like a jigsaw puzzle if I wanted to use what I had now.. so right now the stitchery is laying on the table, waiting for my parents to pick me up tomorrow and stop by Lille Stasjon (the store where my mother works) so that I can pick up some more batting. Annoying, but I won't be able to do any more work until I have more batting.. *argh*

I got a really nice mail from Anja from Germany the other day - my pincushion partner. I can't wait to see what she's made from the challenge, and I really hope she'll like what I made. :)

A New Blogger in the Family

My mother has recently been, hmm.. pushed? into the world of blogging, and has - with the help of May Britt - created her first blog called Jacobs Quilt

Please visit her and say "Hi", I know she'd like that.

I've signed up too!

PincushionExchange

And now I'm playing with ideas for making pincoushins. :) This will be so much fun!

Entertainment in the sudden summer heat - and a new book.

Last week came the summer's heat - perhaps a little faster then most people were expecting. In the mornings the heat was already closing in on or passing 20 degrees celsius - the week before it barely reached 12 when I got up to go to work. Luckily, the place where I work is pretty cool (old building), but the heat outside was almost unpleasant when the time came to go home. Not to mention our furry little friends felt it worst.. Luckily, we have ways of cooling them down. ;)


First, take a caged-in bird bath..

Fill the pool area with water and add some frozen green peas.

Attach to the side of the cage (most effective when there is a small hatch, so that he critters can access the "tub").

Sit back and enjoy your view to pea-diving creatures and lots og chewing.

And, yes, I did mention a new book in the topic field. :) And here it is:

It's a book filled with japanese block designs, appliqué and sashiko designs - and I love it! :D

I mean, who cannot be fascinated when flipping through these pages filled with beautiful pictures, designs, tips and ideas? There's even a separate section about japanese fabrics! (I didn't know there were such differences.. I mean, here they sell japanese fabrics as "japanese fabrics", without separating them into kasuri, shima, yùzen and many other names). Fascinating!

I even recognize certain blocks from my mother's american block books, but with other names. :) Like the Manji - or buddhist symbol - shown on the top right side here - also known as Card Tricks.

I love this book - and can't wait to start working from it - I just need to find just the right fabrics.. Many of the patterns in this book are made with either very bright colors or with shades of blue, black and white. The japanese fabrics I've seen here in Norway just aren't the right ones.. they used to have a lot of blues, but now they're more.. pink-ish.. (I'm not a very huge fan of pink..). Oh well, I can dream about this book for quite some time I think, before I start working, so I have all the time in the world to find just the right fabrics. ;)

Btw, I've started working on the BOM that my mother and two of her friends are working on too - it's called Annie's Calendar Quilt. I can't wait to see them finished - all four of them - and seeing them together. It's fun to see things from the same pattern, but all colored by the creator's way of doing things. The differences can be huge! sometimes.

Tempus Fugit

Or time flies, as they also say.

I'm not sure where the past couple of weeks have gone, but gone they are. June is here! Summer! And it's hot outside (and inside - old buildings keep the heat locked in). Only 6 weeks to go - and we're off on vacation! :D

I've finished the bags I started some time ago - under development pictures can be seen in the last post, and here are the finished results. :)


This is a small shoulder bag, just the right size to hold my wallet, cell phone, keys, and - with good will etc - a bottle of water. Perfect for trips to the movies or downtown.


And this bag is now in use as my work-bag. There are two large pockets inside, large enough to hold my wallet and other necessary things, plus a big space for other things needed for work (my calendar, lunch, etc).


I even managed to quilt and finish this little thing. :)

All that's left of the fabric I got for my birthday, are some pieces of stripes.. so I decided to make my very first striped quilt (?), but I can't seem to be able to decide which version to make..


The "light" version, with four dark parts and five light..


Or the "dark" version, with five dark parts and four light.. *hmmm*


Tomorrow is Monday again - another week at work, and my BF's last exams week. He's been working all through the month of May with this exam, and I really think he might be in need of a break soon.. Good thing it's almost over.. just two more days..

Some progress, I guess.

There has been some progress these last weeks, even though the level of activity here on the blog has been rather.. hm.. unexcisting.

First of all, thank you all of you who were so kind and commented on the previous post (the one concerning May Britt's pin cushin tutorial. You are all too kind. *blush*

When it comes to my birthday (now almost a month ago already.. time flies..) I've been able to do quite some work on the gifts received from my grandparents. :) First it's the stitchery from Angels in Disguise:


I'm basically done with it - just need to find some proper fabrics to use around it, and perhaps add some details (like beads or buttons, I like to add things like that). It was really fun to make, and I think the results came out good. :)


The box of fabrics have ended up somewhat like the picture abowe. 1" sqares sewn together (I think there are about.. *counting* 122 squares in these two pieces all together). I'm playing with the idea of making a bag, but not quite sure what to do.. needs some more time, I think.


This picture shows what I am currently working on. Earlier this year I bought four patterns from Simple Stitchings (Hatched and Patched) but left them in my basket because I didn't quite know what to do with them. Well, last weekend I finally figured it out. I combined the four 3 1/2"*3 1/2" stitchery patterns with fabrics I originally thought of using for stitchery backgrounds into a 9-patch. And I used two fabrics (originally Christmas fabrics, bought at Katrine's some time last year) in light and green (same series and therefore same print) around the edges of the 9-patch. Now I'm almost done with the motifs, but not quite sure if this ends up a pillow case or a small wall quilt. Time will show..


I also received a package in the mail earlier this week. It was from this new hobby club, which had called me, asking if I wanted to be a test member for a while. (I said yes, if there's any doubt.) And on Wednesday I received a box containing starting materials for making cards. The picture above shows some of the box's contents, and I'm anxious to find time and inspiration to experiment. :)

Finally, I found this, well, finished stitchery - which was only missing the "hanging up mechanism" on the back (I don't remember the proper word in English at the moment, but you get the idea, right?). :) As I turned it to look at the back, I noticed my signature, and, oh gosh, it was finished TWO years ago.. Oh well.. Had to do something about that.


The original pattern (which I think belongs to my mother) said to use buttons, but I found these adorable glass beads and wanted to use them instead. There are atleast two stores here in Oslo which sells beads (in glass, metal and plastic) for making jewellery, and I try to visit them regularly to see if there's anything new. :)

The last picture shows the back, the "hanging up mechanism" and my signature. Now I only need to find a wall in need of a friend.. hmm..

Oh, and by the way, our "family" has gotten bigger! A new baby rat had to come home with me last weekend, and now lives happily with the two other rascals in the cage in our living room. For the moment she's called either baby or Pétite (she's sooo small) but the name might change once we see who she really is (she's basically just sleeping or eating now, but when she gets bigger she'll be more active). My BF has a couple of cute pictures on his camera (he bought a new one) but I don't think he's moved them over to his computor yet..

Well, May Britt published a tutorial for making pin cusions on Friday, and I had to try. :) The first one - I figured after finishing it - I made wrong.. so I had to make another one.. (but it was so fun to make, so I really didn't mind.)

I used 1" squares and three different fabrics I almost never use (they're not really matching anything.. except black) and it looks very.. funky? Atleast very 70's. :)

The first one I made, I used three of the Japanese fabrics I got for my birthday (also 1" squares). It looks like a ball, but it's so cute! Even my BF thinks it's cute. :)

And, as a treat, here is a picture of one of the dragons I bought a couple of years ago when we were on vacation in England (London, to be precise). I found this little stubborn guy in a small crafts shop somewhere around the markets in Camden Town. I love dragons, especially gothic looking, and this one's one of my very special favorites. :)

I went on a short trip to Katrine's today, originally looking for two DMC colors, but, alas, I managed to find some more stuff that just "had to" come home with me.. Strange, isn't it..


I found the two colors I needed (almost ran out in the middle of a stitchery - crisis!), and three unbleached fabrics with small prints (the bottom one has small retro-almost 70's-circles, the middle one has small hearts, and the top one small stars). Can't wait to use them. :)


Then I found a HUGE stash (pile) of bolts of Japanese fabrics they hadn't had time to price even. But I got the permission to go through them and see if there were any I "needed". I chose these three - more a brown-yellow-tone - with a small project in mind combined with some fabrics I got for my birthday (see picture further down).


The day before my birthday our apartment was full of people - mom and dad came down from Trysil, my grandmother came with them, my sister came over, and grandma's middle sister (my great aunt) came too. Grandma has really fallen for one of my rats, Swiffer (the brown one with curly fur), and just had to open the cage and let them come out and play for a while. :) Nice to see that not all members of my family runs and hides or screams when they see them (not that there are that many who do so, but most are very sceptical..).


My birthday present from grandma and grandpa: a box with many blue-and-grey-toned fabrics and a pattern from Angels in Disguise. :) These are the fabrics I'm thinking of combinding with the Japanese ones I bought today. Could be interesting..


I got a new sewing bag from Jacob (the family parrot) and my parents (my mom made it). My mom had originally made one for her self, but I asked if she could make one for me too, I really liked the bright glowing orange colors!




I managed to finish the blue snowman (the pattern that May Britt made)! The picture is a bit dark, but it's not easy to get good pictures and natural light in the middle of the night.. :/ It's cute, very very cute, IRL. I've used small shiny glass beads for snow flakes here and there (you can barely see them in the pic.. *argh*).


And I finished the Valentine's quilt! :D (And forgot to flip the picture before I put it up here.. *bah*). I finished it by sewing on small glass hearts in black and red here and there - and a small metal heart with the words "Made with love" engraved. Pearls can be so decorative in small wallhangings. :)



I finished the alphabet wallhanging too. :) Two small metal butterfly pearls made a nice extra touch on the yellow border with butterflies and flowers. :)

And I've made this garden angel from a stamp my mom bought at Panduro. Even my BF thinks it's very cute. :) Three small metal flowers in pink, yellow and blue gives it a nice finish.

I like using pearls, beads or buttons in my quilts/stitcheries/works. I think it adds a personal touch - and, just my luck, there are a couple of very nice bead stores here in Oslo. The stops there can be quite expensive some times, but I think it's worth it.

The sky is bright blue today, about 15 celsius in the shades, a little wind, but as long as you walk in the sun it's nice to be outside. It annoys me a little that I didn't manage to get "the secret thing" to Trysil this weekend, but it's really not that important. (I bet you're curious now, mom ;p)

Clearance at GrandMa's house

My grandmother has decided to only buy fabric for what she sews - and not because she likes the fabric or "might" use it for something, and so she cleaned out her fabric collection and sent a HUGE bag full of fabrics to my parents house, saying that I should pick out what I wanted. And so I did.


This is a picture of what I brought with me home. It's about a third of the bag. The rest my mother kept - and some we might send down to my BF's mother (she's also sewing alot). Mystery mail is always fun to both send and receive. Some time ago I had to go to the post office to collect a parcel which didn't fit into our miniature size mailbox (really.. you could barely fit a book in there..) and I poundered on and on about what it could be and who could've sent it. It turned out that it was the price from this contest I'd entered a couple months earlier (and completely forgot all about) and not some weird conspiracy to trick me. :) I still have the LED-light pen, the towel and the watch I got from that contest - not to mention the incredible cute metal boxes they were in. They were all from the movie Cars (Disney/Pixar).

Now I think I'm going to blow my nose (yes, another cold has taken hold..) and then try to see if I can get the back piece cut and ready for the spring quilt (What Color Is Spring - Bareroots). Maybe..

Gifts from San Fransisco.

My BF went on a school trip to San Fransisco, and came back with a couple of gifts. :)

First, a package of Pirate Adhesive Bandages (or plaster). :) The box also included a Free Treasure Inside - a mini pirate duckie! :D



And a bag of one of my favorite american sweets - Twizzlers! :D

And finally, a t-shirt from San Fransisco's Japan Town, made by an old japanese man. :) The print is a picture of a panda and a duck, and the text reads "Crouching Panda - Peeking Duck" - a spoof of a film title (the film was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, very good film, btw).


There were some other gifts too, but they're being saved for my birthday.

A New Discovery

I spent Friday evening at IKEA with my sister - having dinner (very good) and looking through some new sortiment (spring's here!) and did some shopping (some things that were needed, and some things.. just because). :)

On the way to IKEA we passed a mall which none of us had ever been to - Alnabru Senteret. They had stores like Barnas Hus, Toys'R'Us and Tropehagen. So we decided that, if they were still open when we left IKEA, we would stop by. And, yes, it was open. :) I think I've found my favorite mall outside the main parts of Oslo now, mainly because of Tropehagen. It was the BIGGEST pet shop I'd seen in Oslo, and it had a HUGE area just for critters like rats, mice, guinea pigs and rabbits - lots of toys and treats, cage accessoires and fun things. Ofcourse I had to leave with quite a large bag of buys. :)

They even had three rats there - two girls and a boy - and they were the biggest, safest and most curious rats I'd seen in a pet store for quite some time. Usually pet stores take in rat babies who aren't much older then 3-4 weeks (which is way too early to be taken from their mother) but these three were from a private breeder, and were about - I'd say - 7-8 weeks old, maybe older. Their cages were big and clean, lots of food and drink, and small houses to hide in. It really warms my heart when I see that some people actually know how to treat their animals good - even if they are pet stores and rats. It doesn't matter, rats are animals too - with feelings and personality.

Speaking of rats, my eldest had to go to the vet last week. She's suddenly got old.. The vet didn't really know what was wrong, ear infection, middle ear infection, stroke, so she gave me a 10 day antibiotic cure and some steroides. I think she looks better now, but she's still old and tired. Her 2-year birthday is coming up soon - two weeks left now - and we know that she won't be with us for that much longer. Hopefully she will get better so that she can enjoy her last weeks or months, but with small animals you just can't know for sure.

The two other little rascals are at full speed as usually. :) Spoiled bRATS..

Now I think I'll finish eating my Skittles (Smoothie Mix) and try to get something done today.. I did say "try".

Airway infection?

The past week has been spent - more or less - on the couch. I've been batteling a rough cough, fever, and headaches every time I've tried to do anyting. So no sewing, no computer, no reading for the last week. And I'm getting bored..

My doctor told me to stay at home until I felt better again (or the cough stopped), but she couldn't give me anything to help stop it..

It's really frustrating to sit and stare at my sewing, knowing that I'll battle a sore head if I pick it up, but hopefully the next couple of days will help.

Otherwise, there was some real action around the neighbourhood this weekend. I'm not looking forward to BF's trip to San Fransisco in two weeks.. There were three attacks om women - one of them right outside our building - during an hour's time the night before Sunday (between 02 and 03 in the morning). We didn't hear anything, but it's scary.. I know I won't be wandering off after dark for quite some time.. I wonder what's happening to the world..

Two new stamps

What can I say.. I fell for these, and they were 50% off.

Latest purchase

My mom called the other evening asking if there was a Kremmertorget store around, and if my sister would be able to find it if I gave her instructions. Now, this store is not very difficult to find, but I decided to meet my sister down town and go there with her - especially after my mom told me why she was sending my sister there. For the vintage (?) needleholder (pillow) that both her and I think she once had - I think it's somewhere in my old toys.. and because of the Japanese style boxes they had at the store.

Now, the boxes were pretty, but they were big. The prettier the bigger it seems. So I didn't buy any. But, ofcourse, I had to have one of the pretty but ugly needleholders. :)


Funny, isn't it?

Help!

Desperately seeking inspiration! *eek*

I've not done much these past few days, in the quilting, stitching or creative way, just reading a bit, and now - when I finally have time to start something new - I'm all out of ideas.. I can't think of anything that I'd really really like to do - or make. Crisis!

I spent most of yesterday watching old Dr. Phil episodes on TV, playing WoW, (World of Warcraft) and thinking while my BF was at work. And when he came home, we ate dinner, played som WoW and saw this Indian/Pakistan movie called Fanaa (Destroyed by love). The movie was good - and long.. (the cover read 120 minutes, but it lasted almost three hours!).

BF is off to work again now, and I need - I CRAVE - something to do, but my mind is all blank.. not even making more snowmen tempts me.

Frustrating.

Shopping!

Yup, had to do a little shopping. :) But it was a good day to do it too - with a clear blue sky, sunshine and not too cold. Actually, it's warmer now - and I like it. :)

Anyway, I only needed some more silk thread from Katrine's, but when I came there, I remembered how much light fabric that had disappeared into this little secret I'm making.. so I started to look, and ended up with 4 new ones.

Three of them have small prints on - I don't mind having small prints as long as I don't feel like they dominate - and the last one, the one on the left, is just plain unbleached.

I also dropped by Panduro - since I'd gotten two discount coupons there in January (buy for over 200,- in February and get 50,- off). Unfortunately, I ended up with two of these coupons, and since I can only use one coupon per buy, I have to go back again and buy more. Oh, how sad.. ;p

I bought stamps. Of course. *duh* The little monsters on the right I've been drooling on for a couple of weeks. And the little frogs on the bottom too. The kit on the left was in sale, so I had to have that. And I saw some more things I'd like to buy, so I don't think I'll have any problems using the last coupon. ;)

On Tuesday my mom and the mom of one of Systeryster's friends from work are coming to Oslo. That'll be fun. :) I can't wait! Mom's taking my "Love is.."-blocks back to cut them to proper size (with her fancy-smanchy ruler and cutter) so that I can finally finish it. Yay! Plus, she's borrowing some of my stamps too - and I've shopped a little for her, Tilda-stuff and stuff.
Will be great!

Ratties

I heard a rumor that May Britt wanted to see pictures of my rats. :) So here they come;


In the blue fleece house (made by a friend of mine named Ingrid, who lives in Trondheim) and from the left, we have the nose of my black berkshire dumbo (for those who're into standards, colors and markings) the eldest rat Pytteliten (also known as Pyttis). The name means something like really tiny (because she was really really tiny when I got her). In the middle (or left side-top) we have Igor - the hyperactive little rattie-baby. She's irish silvered black. And last, but not least, to the right we have Swiffer, who's agouti rex. All of them are girls - although the names might be a bit misleading. :)

A picture of all three of them, doing their usual thing whenever I open one of the cage doors - trying to climb out and come to me for a pat or a treat (I think they prefer the treats..). In this picture you can see more of the blue fleece house Ingrid made, and also parts of a hammock I've made (the black thing with blue insides), and you can even see a small part of a blue tunnell down to the right of Swiffer's foot.

And last, a picture of Swiffer and Pytteliten enjoying one of their comfy hammocks. This is how Swiffer sleeps from time to time - on her back with her feet in the air. Cute!!! I envy them when they're all bundled together in the hammocks and houses like that. It looks so cosy. :)

Spoiled ratten?

I got this idea today, how to make a new kind of hammock for my rats. Well, it wasn't completely my idea, I've seen examples of how others have made them - hammocks with hiding pockets, but today at work I started to think about how I would make one. Boring day at work? Not really.. I jus think alot when I do the same thing for several hours at the time.

I got a piece of fleece and some fabric with funny jungle animals - I especially love the pink crocodiles and little frogs, and I don't even like pink! - and cut a fitting piece of fabric. Sew the fabric together with the fleece, made some hoops for fastening on the cage walls, a seam here and a seam there - and voilá!



Cute, aren't they?

And now my rats are even more spoiled then ever - if that is possible, I mean. ;)

Finished bag.

Well, I finished my bag on Sunday - or almost.. I need to find a clever way of closing it in the top - otherwise I'll be sure to lose my wallet the first day in town.. :/

Sunday was the perfect day for my sewing machine to get all cranky too.. it refuses to make buttonholes - and so I'm waiting until we're friends again to make some kind of closing arrangement on the bag.

But, it's all done, except for that, so here comes a picture. :)


You don't see the insides, but I found only one (or was that two?) fabric that I had enough of to make the insides. It looks kinda cool - there's a jungle and lots of wild animals. :) My Grandmother gave me the fabric to make hammocks for my spoiled little rats, but I never got around to use it.. mostly because my mother gives me hints about fabrics with bright colors and funny animals which they have at the store where she works. ;) Very handy, I must add, very handy indeed.